Depressions of a Fox COMPLETE
by Dancesnapple
Summary: Depressions from Naruto's past start to get to him as each member of the group adds up to bring him out of it. Before Pain, but after failed Sasuke retrieval. Made into single document for a better read.


_**AFTER FINISHING THIS STORY, I placed it all into one overall chapter. The separation before made the chapters too small in my opinion. **_

_Depression can be caused by any number of reasons. . ._

_Death. Confusion. Hurt. Abandonment. Loneliness. _

_All things felt by a person from time to time. A person can be overwhelmed by these things._

_Some things can add to it, and make it nearly impossible to get out of it. _

_Guilt. . . Blame._

_**INO**_

"Hey, Naruto!" Ino chirped as the door to her shop opened.

In walked, of course, the kill me orange clad ninja Naruto, age 15, having come back from training with Jiraiya a few months ago. "What brings you here?" She inquired.

"Hey. ." it was muttered so low she almost thought it was a grunt.

She tilted her head after his obviously fake smile went away. He slowly went through the flower shop, looking through some with obvious thought.

"What are you looking for? Something for the festival tomorrow?"

He hardly responded after about ten seconds of appraising a bouquet. "I guess you could say that."

Tomorrow was the celebration. It would be sixteen years ago tomorrow that the Nine Tailed Fox attacked the village. It was a half memorial to those who died, half festival to celebrate the Leaf's famous 'Will of Fire', seeing that the village survived the tragedy. Since the attack by the Sound village and loss of the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the festival honored the united Will of the village more and more.

Naruto walked up to Ino with four sets of flowers with a half assed smile. "These three are fine."

Ino looked em over while speaking aloud. "Who they for?" There was a pause with no reply until she looked up to see Naruto, who's face was blank. "Alright, tell Miss Yamanaka what's wrong, Naruto."

He shifted uncomfortably while he scratched his head nervously. "What do ya' mean? Nothing's wro-"

"Please don't bullshit me." Ino deadpanned. "We may not be best friends forever but come on, you can trust me. It can be the blonde club secret." She finished with a smile.

He gave her a fake smile that would make Sai proud. Nevertheless, he didn't respond.

"Naruto. . ." Ino was actually getting concerned now.

Naruto chuckled and started to walk out after paying. He stopped before closing the door. "The day after tomorrow. . . I'm going to come home to shattered windows, graffiti, possibly a robbed home, and all means of verbal abuse along the way. You won't see me tomorrow. . ." He looked back at her, fake smile still there. "Last time I stepped foot in that festival, I ended up in the hospital." He shut the door and left.

Ino was left there wide eyed. She stepped from the register and went to the back room. "MOM! CAN YOU MIND THE STORE A BIT?"

A yell came back, echoing a "YES DEAR!"

Ino quickly got her stuff together, muttering to herself. "This can't be good."

_**SHIKAMARU & CHOJI**_

_She gripped and pulled him to her, continuing to make out with him as a faint voice echoed. _

"Shikamaru" It said irritated.

_He paid more attention to the image before him as the dirty blonde girl-_

"SHIKAMARU!" Ino kicked the sleeping man in the gut.

I jolted up, almost moaning but stopped when he noticed his company. "Oh, not the blonde I expected. What's going on?" He said sleepily.

The were in a field, so Ino assumed the man fell asleep during his famed cloud watching. "How the hell can you sleep out here- Wait! Were you dreaming of Temari?" She said almost with a squeal.

Amazingly, his face betrayed no emotion as he simply laid back down. She pulled him up again. "You're such a drag. What's up?"

Ino took a moment to cool down to remember why she was here. "Well, I ran into Naruto. . ."

He sighed. "Did our two Leaf blondes have a moment or did he piss you off with some prank?" He said sarcastically. Fortunately, he ducked a swiping fist.

"NOT LIKE THAT, ASS!" She cooled down. "He was depressed, and I mean REALLY depressed. Honestly, I'm a little worried about him."

Shikamaru looked at her a little more seriously, but still tired. "He tell you what's wrong? Also, shouldn't you be going to Sakura instead? She's your gossip girl."

Ino laughed nervously a bit. "Well, I couldn't find her. . ." Shikamaru face palmed. "And he wouldn't be specific, but mentioned he wouldn't be around at all tomorrow. Also said he would come home to his home being vandalized."

Shikamaru looked at her a moment. The pause went for about thirty seconds as he looked at the clouds. "I'll go get Choji and we'll talk to him. You keep searching for Sakura, though if you find anyone else, tell em about it."

"And if he's already gone off somewhere?" Ino said concerned.

"We'll find him tomorrow. I think I know where he'll be hiding."

He walked off, leaving Ino slightly confused.

(That night)

"What are you doing? . . ." Shikamaru's voice startles the blonde knucklehead, who almost falls over the dead fall drop.

"WHA- What the hell! Don't sneak up on me!" Naruto yelled before seeing Choji with Shikamaru. "What's up?"

They sat with him, Choji carrying a bag. "What are you doing up here?" Choji asked. This only prompted Naruto to grimace and turn from them.

They were sitting atop the Hokage stone faces. Particularly, Naruto was sitting, hidden from the village's view behind the Fourth's spiky hair. Choji had to admit Naruto had a comfy setup with a blanket down to sleep on.

"How'd ya' find me?" Naruto asked, his voice dull.

"Well, since you told Ino you wouldn't be around tomorrow, we checked Ichiraku for you. We thought you would be stocking up on food or comething." Shikamaru stated. Choji finished.

"But since they told us you never come around for these days every year, our list of places you could be came down to one of the training fields or up here." The overweight man opened the bag pulling out Ramen takeout. "Here, brought ya this."

Naruto chuckled humorlessly. "Yet the ANBU could never find me after my pranks as a kid. You ever think they're useless?"

"What's going on? Shouldn't you be getting ready for some celebrations tomorrow?" Choji asked.

Naruto looked over the village, then to the moon. "Nope. I already finished everything." Choji looked down, finding two bouquets of flowers.

"Ino said you bought four. Who did you give the other two to?"

He didn't get any response as Naruto stayed there, silent. Shikamaru sighed, mentally noting he didn't think it was this bad. He began. "The first was for the Fourth, and the second was for the Third. Am I right?"

Naruto just nodded. Choji seemed confused, before connecting the dots. The first two sets of flowers.

Naruto finally started talking. "Why don't you two just go home? I'm sure you have things to do."

Shikamaru sighed again, while Choji seemed to grow more curious, though he was sure Shikamaru would explain it all to him after. "You remember our times at the academy?" Shikamaru said.

Both Naruto and Choji sat and listened as he continued, though Naruto had his back to them.

"You, Choji, Kiba, and I were the misfits. We would cause trouble all over the place. Kiba for rough housing. Choji for joining in for no reason. Me for being lazy. You for. . . well everything." He paused to gauge Naruto's reaction. "We spent a good deal of time around you, as much as we could, so whenever you're down like this, it affects us too."

Choji smirked and grunted a mhm. Shikamaru continued after a bit. "You need to let this go. Come on Choji."

Choji was confused, but followed after noticing Naruto tense slightly. They walked away, leaving the food back with Naruto.

A few minutes of walking later, Choji started his line of questions. "What was that about?"

"You'll need to start somewhere specific."

"The flowers?!"

"For the man who inspired tomorrow's celebration and is Naruto's hero, and then the man who was almost a grandfather to him. If the Third didn't make that law about not telling us about the Fox, Naruto would never have any of us around for him, so obviously the two of them are first on the list for Naruto to be sad over."

Choji shrunk a bit. "Oh. Guess I didn't think of it that way. We aren't that shallow, are we? We wouldn't have abandoned him if we knew about the Fox back then."

Shikamaru ponders that a moment. "Maybe. We would be influenced by our parents."

The walked more before Choji fired the next question. "Who do you think the other two are for?"

"His parents." Shikamaru stated, not missing a beat. "At least I would assume. He keeps them so it would make sense, seeing as he doesn't know who either are."

"Ah. . . and what was up with that last bit there?"

Shikamaru seemed to pause on that. "He's blaming himself for everything."

"What? Why?"

"Think about it. His birthday is the celebration of the thing inside of him killing god knows how many people in the village, but also his hero. Half the village still looks at him with malice, though at least it's better these days." Shikamaru stopped a moment. "Although I'm more concerned about the few that apparently assault his property."

"Huh? I don't remember seeing it get banged up in the last few years."

"Yeah, because he hasn't been here. I think I'll speak with the Lady Hokage in the morning about it."

Choji grunted. "You think he'll be okay?"

"We said our peace. Now, we need the others to as well. Ino's looking for Sakura and possibly Sai, so if you could go tell Team Kurenai, they could help too." With that, they split up to walk separate ways.

_**LEE & NEJI**_

"Ugh, five more minutes." Our blonde snuggled into his blanket, ignoring the sounds of revelry below. The loudest noise seemed to be the clattering of glass cups. . . and liquid pouring. "What the hell?"

Naruto drowsily sat up, finding a large bottle, two glasses, and green. "GREETING'S MY FRIEND!" The yell almost jolted Naruto off the Kage face to certain death.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING LEE?!" Naruto caught himself with a clone and threw himself back, quickly looking to see if any villagers saw him. He looked back to Lee. "Why were you watching me sleep?!"

Lee looked offended. "I only just got here!" Both Lee's hands clasped onto Naruto's shoulders, shaking him back and forth. "I heard of your recent loss of youth through succumbing to the depression of hard times! I've decided that I shall help reignite your flames of happiness and joy with refreshments!"

Naruto almost felt the need to leap off the cliff. "Uhh. . . Choji brought me ramen last night. I doubt any drink could fix what ramen can't."

"Give it one try! They say depression and alcohol go great together." He started setting up the drinks.

"Mhmm." Naruto grunted before a lightbulb went off. He quickly snatched the bottle away from Lee frantically, taking a quick look. "WHY DO YOU HAVE GRANDMA TSUNADE'S DRINKING BOTTLE?!" He quickly chucked the bottle off the cliff, ignoring the safety of anyone below.

He could later swear to hearing a faint echo of 'MY SAKE!' in Tsunade's voice, but he didn't want to deal with that right now. Lee brought his fists up in a pose as if he was confident in his words. "I heard that those drinks help depression."

"And you were gonna drink too?!"

"It would be rude not to." He seemed offended. "I merely wanted to help reignite your youth!"

Naruto started to mumble too quietly for Lee to hear. "Yeah I'll reignite my youthful foot and shove it up your lower gate of joy-"

Suddenly, a familiar brown haired girl lands between them grabbing Lee and taking off, muttering, "Tag out." leaving a confused Naruto.

"Sorry, we didn't know he smuggled the bottle up here. . ." Naruto turned, finding Neji sitting next to him in a Lotus position pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Doesn't he know what it does?" Naruto asked, then remembering to be surprised. "WHA! What are you all doing up here?"

Neji replied passively. "He only blacks out. We never told him what it does to him since he might take it as a challenge. . ." He said with a grimace. "Also, Ino ran into us." He turned to Naruto. "Problems?"

Naruto smacked his forehead. "What is this? A fucking intervention?" He held his hands up peacefully. "Look. If I've gone this long fine with it, you don't have to be concerned."

Neji just stared his signature 'You don't know what I'm thinking' stare. Naruto just sighed, getting comfortable as he started to look at the clouds. "Why put the blame on yourself?"

Naruto expected that question, surprisingly. "Why wouldn't I? Being told that since you're born tends to put that idea into the fact area of your head."

"Yet you know the truth of it. You know that you had little to nothing to do with the incident. Your entire goal is to make people respect you despite that. So why-"

Naruto just threw his hand up, pointing off in the distance by instinct. Neji scanned the direction with his Byakugon, finding Naruto pointing at the cemetery. He found countless families visiting graves and mourning. Many cried while others were placing flowers and memorials. He looked back to Naruto, who was still looking to the sky.

"Each of those families lost someone. They also lost the fourth Hokage, who everyone loved." Naruto began with a monotone. "Everything is fine one day, then the boy who is to be the next jinchuuriki is born. Pervy sage was nice enough to let me know by accident that I was to be the container either way. Problems came up, and it got loose. The entire event was caused because I had to be born. They all lose family members and a hero, and they get to watch me go by every day as a reminder." Naruto turned his head to look at Neji. "You remember what I said back at the Chunin exams?"

Neji was surprised at the question, before it came to him.

_So what? Let me tell you something, you're not the only special one around here!_

Neji shot back. "But then you're doing now exactly what I was doing back then. You changed the way you were, and people have gotten a lot better towards you since."

Naruto chuckled. "You'd think that. . ."

(With Shikamaru)

"Come in." He heard from behind the door. He entered the Hokage room, finding a slightly intoxicated Tsunade and a frantic looking Shizune. "What is it, Shikamaru?" She asked grumpily.

He made sure not to step on any of the empty bottles on the floor before notice the smashed bottle on the balcony just outside the window. "I wanted to ask about some reports of vandalism."

"HA! On this date, I assume?" Tsunade scoffed. "It's a festival day. So much crap gets destroyed, it's too much hassle. What made you come to me? You should be out being young. Kami knows I want to." She finished with a slight glare at Shizune who seemed to cower. 

Shikamaru coughed to clear his throat. "I was more wondering if you ever heard of any reports about Naruto's house being vandalized on this date. . . every year."

That sobered the blonde kage up. She got up, albeit lazily, and opened up a cabinet. She looked through several files. "mmmmmm nope. Not since I took up the title of Hokage. There are accounts for every year before, however, but apparently his leaving the village with Jiraiya stopped it somehow. Why you ask?"

Shikamaru seemed confused. "Naruto isn't even inside the village walls for today and seems to believe it'll happen again."

Tsunade frowned. "I see. . . I'll have an ANBU or two look into it. The last reported incident like that was during that month of training you all had for the third round of the Chunin exams three years ago."

Shikamaru pondered that. "Alright. I guess I'll look into it too." He bowed and left.

(With Naruto)

"Look. I appreciate what you guys are trying. Honestly, but I just wanna lay up here for the day. I'll be up and fun tomorrow." Naruto gave Neji a fake smile. Neji sat for a few more seconds, making Naruto think he wasn't going anywhere until he got up calmly and left. "Finally. . ." Naruto turned, finding Tenten sitting on the tip of the Fourth's hair. "WHA-!" He fell back, startled.

She laughed a bit while he sweat dropped.

"Your turn?" He said hesitantly.

"My turn." She said happily.

Fuck, he noted mentally.

_**TENTEN**_

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. That makes five minutes of awkward silence between Naruto and Tenten.

Naruto sighed. "We REALLY don't talk much now do we?"

She sweat dropped with a forced smile. "Not really, but hey! No time like the present."

"If wonder boy and captain fate couldn't do it, what do ya' got?" Naruto said cynically.

Tenten smiled warmly. "Sometimes strangers are better listeners. We can be objective. Plus, woman's intuition."

Naruto shrunk down a bit. "Woman's intuition tends to mean an angry fist while shrieking in anger."

A small tick mark appears on Tenten, but she keeps a smile. "I'm not Sakura. Now, come on! Out with your sadness and woes." She said over dramatically.

Naruto shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know what to really start with."

Tenten put her hand to her chin in thought before snapping her fingers with a smirk. "Out of everyone in our age group, who do you ever see me hanging around with?"

Naruto tilted his head. "Um.. . Neji or Lee?"

"Do you ever see me with anyone else?"

"Not REALLY, no."

Tenten seemed smirk at the answers. "Now, out of everyone, who do you think was most wrong about you at the Chunin exams?"

Naruto could almost have visible question marks around his head. "Uhhh. . . Ino?"

"No, she cheered for you against Neji."

"Sakura?" 

"Same."

"Kiba? or-"

She cut him off. "I was the only one there who rooted for Neji." She said, annoyed that her name doesn't even come up in his mind apparently.

Naruto just shrugged. "Well, he's your teammate. Why wouldn't you?"

Tenten tilted in thought. "Good point, then again even I knew how much of an arrogant prick he could be back then." She looked back to Naruto. "I was SO sure that no matter what you could do, no matter how tough you were, Neji would crush you. I didn't care. You see, to me everything I currently know is more of sure fact. I took no time to look at you and properly evaluate your strength because I was so stubborn not to even care what others could do. Neji was the best."

Naruto seemed confused as to where this was going. "Well, I guess."

"And that comes out to my personal life. I don't make any time with many of you guys because I'm so set in my routine of only being around Lee and Neji. As you say, we all have personal issues. Mine aren't grand life changing events like yours and Neji's, but you helped him. Through that, it's sort of broadened my mind and helped me. So. . ." She pointed to Naruto.

"Let me return the favor and help you." She finished with a smile.

Naruto seemed more than surprised before giving the first actual smile he'd had this past week. Still sad in his eyes, but he was appreciating the effort. "Thanks. You know, you really are different from Sakura." 

Tenten seemed to like the complement.

Unfortunately. . . he continued. "I mean, before now, I just thought you were a tomboy who used tons of tools to get out your violent frustrations from being the only girl without medical ninjutu, but you're actually really cool!"

ANNNNNND snap. CRACK! Tenten whips Naruto's head into the hard rock using a summoned metal staff. "VIOLENT FRUSTRATIONS!?" She calmed down after a second before noticing that Naruto wasn't getting up. "oh shit." She quickly checked to make sure he was alive. Then she sighed. "I AM like Sakura. . ."

Neji and Lee came out to see the results as Tenten scratched the back of her head. "So close, yet so far." Neji said shaking his head back and forth.

(With Shikamaru)

Shikamaru leaned against the side of the building in wait. He'd been in an alley across from the apartment Naruto lived at, keeping an eye out. So far, it seemed rather peaceful. He sighed. "I guess it really did stop." He scratched his head. "Maybe the Sound invasion took so much attention away that no one ever did it again."

Just as he was heading down the street, however, he stopped to look over to a group of drunken men who passed him. He turned to watch them as they went by the apartment. One pointed directly to Naruto's apartment, causing Shikamaru to narrow his gaze. One of them laughed about some sort of idea.

He ripped some cloth from his shirt and stuffed it into his bottle of sake as another pulled out a lighter. That didn't sit well with the Nara. They set the cloth on fire and tossed it towards the apartment. However, a thrown kunai strikes through the makeshift molotov as the alcohol blows into flames and dissipates mid air. The men all shift their gazes to Shikamaru, immediately fearful of the pissed expression in Shikamaru's eyes.

"You did not just try that. . ." Shikamaru said in shear disgust.

_**KIBA & SHINO**_

Oh god, that hurt. Naruto rubs his head, looking up to find the daylight pretty bright. He would say it's about mid day.

**pant pant pant pant pant**

Um? Naruto looks over, finding a giant dog. Unlike the last two times, he simply grunted. "Great." He rolled over. "Hi, Kiba. Akamaru. Shino?" He found Shino and Kiba both chilling, eating ramen with a steaming hot bowl sat in front of Naruto.

Kiba points to it. "Hurry up before it gets cold."

"You got me food?" Naruto said confused.

Shino answered while Kiba ate. "Choji mentioned the last thing you ate was the ramen he got you last night, so we stopped on the way."

Naruto seemed to sink his shoulders. "Guys."

Kiba snapped again. "Idiot just enjoy the damn food!" He went back to eating as Naruto reluctantly complied after his stomach growled.

They ate in silence, finishing the food. Naruto broke the silence. "So asides from food, what made you guys come up here?"

Kiba replied calmly. "You think we would just leave ya up here while there's a party going on down there?"

Naruto's gaze trailed down to the bowl in his lap. "You should've."

"Naruto." Shino grabbed his attention. "You should know our whole age group works together. Team Guy backed you up to rescue Gaara. Your team backed up Shikamaru's team. Ours did all we could to help you track Sasuke. We don't care about ignorant topics like the fox."

Naruto grunted. He looked at Kiba, who seemed uncomfortable. "Kiba, the fox killed one of your parents, right? Can you honestly say you never got mad at me over it?"

Akamaru whined slightly as Kiba glared. "Yeah I was mad." Naruto looked away til Kiba added. "I was pissed that I couldn't get to the fox to kick its ass! Dude, we've known each other since the Academy. Since you knocked my ass out at the Chunin Exam preliminaries, I haven't held any resentment towards you." Kiba smirked at Naruto, who wasn't convinced, in fact, maybe a little more down from that answer for some reason.

Naruto looked to Shino who took his stance as openly as Kiba. "My entire clan is based around using our bodies to house creatures. Many people misunderstand me because of that."

"And that fact that you look like a drug dealer." Kiba added with a smirk.

Shino didn't skip a beat. "I'll give you and Akamaru fleas." Akamaru whined loudly and jumped behind Kiba. "Anyway, my point is my clan member may never know the pain you've gone through, Naruto, but we've all sympathized with you. I've known you, and never looked down on you for who you were. I'm not about to start, either."

Suddenly, a loud cry was heard as the three looked down the mountain towards the graveyard. A couple were at a grave where the man broke down into a fit. The grave apparently his mothers. He began to openly curse and shout obscenities. They stated to ignore the man until they heard one phrase.

"WHY?! Why would that bastard Hiruzen let that THING live?!"

the incident was quickly handled by those maintaining order down there. Up above however, Kiba and Shino looked at Naruto, who froze entirely. There went any progress they were making. . .

(With Shikamaru)

"Now, tell me what I want to hear." A bored voice commanded.

A smack sound was made before a sob. "WE'RE SORRY!"

Another smack, causing a different drunk to respond. "It wasn't my idea!"

One of the drunks was an angry drunk, however. "FUCK YOU, know it all Nara! You'd protect that thing in all your infinite wisdom?"

Shikamaru was currently holding four of the five drunks upside down with wire while using the last one with a shadow possession to beat the other four. All five were pretty badly beaten.

"I'd protect Naruto, yes." He smacked the man using the other man. "Now, I want a promise that you will never do anything to antagonize him again, or we can go to the Hokage." He looked at them as all five lost all color in their face.

"DO AS HE SAYS!" The other four yelled at the tough guy.

"FINE!" He yells.

Shikamaru cancels the shadow possession. "Good." He then knocks out the out he just released. "I'll let him sleep off the hangover before he cuts you four down. Give you time to think about what you did." He leaves the alley and heads back towards Naruto's house.

He couldn't get it. . . If random drunks try stupid antics like that, how have no reported cases occurred over the last three years? He walked around the corner, back at Naruto's place.

"Hmm. I'm just going to make so many traps around his house no one can get to it. That should work."

He starts to walk up the steps until he hears a large amount of strikes up on Naruto's floor. He quickly rushed up the stairs, but the fighting noises stopped quickly. He rounded a corner, finding three Chunin ninja splayed out on the ground, unconscious. He saw another's limp self laying on the guard rail along the building's side.

The weirdest part was the Hyuga girl sitting in front of Naruto's door, hands around her knees while looking around as if on watch.

"H. . . H-Hinata?"

He startled her as she begins to twirl her fingers with a small embarrassed blush. "Oh, um. . H-hello Shikamaru."

_**SAI**_

"What are you doing, Hinata?" Shikamaru was more than a little shocked to see her just sitting here after beating up four chunin ninja. "And what did they do-" Then it clicked as he stared wide eyed at her. She shifted her gaze as his mouth gaped a bit. "You're the one that's been keeping his house safe? For three years? " 

She turned red as a volcano and shyly nodded.

"Dang! Didn't think you had it in you." He appraised the damage to the four. "And these guys?"

She pulled her knees up in front of her as she seemed a little angry at the men. "Tried to break in. They shouldn't wake up until tomorrow." Shikamaru was startled.

"No stutter?"

She 'eeped' at that.

"Soooo, threaten Naruto and Hinata kick your ass?" Shikamaru said aloud. "I like that rule, though it's good I came around earlier to deal with the drunk assholes."

She squealed again slightly and looked away.

"Um. . . what?"

She shook her head.

"What is it?" He wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

"I-I was already here." She admitted. "I was going to catch the molotov they threw and. . . t-throw it back. . ."

and mouth drop! He thought what he did was cruel. She was going to set their asses on fire! Suddenly, Shikamaru of all people busted out laughing, making her turn more and more red each second. He calmed for a moment and turned serious.

"So you know his mood right now?" 

She nods. "I-I've been watching from here." She activates her Byakugon. "Kiba and Shino failed. Sai's up right now."

Shikamaru nodded. "How's he doing?"

Hinata didn't respond. That isn't good.

(With Naruto)

"What the hell am I doing, Sai?" Naruto stared blankly at the canvas in front of him. Sai had his own.

"I read in a book that sometimes art is a useful component to expression and releasing emotion when depressed. Draw do what comes natural." He had his smile as he began his own work.

"Sai, I can't paint." Naruto looked over warily.

"It doesn't matter its quality. Just do what comes natural. No pressure." Sai's hand moved at lightning speed as Naruto tries to sneak a peek. Sai turns his canvas away. "No copying. Draw what's in your heart. At least that's what the book says."

Naruto face palmed again. "I swear I'm going to end up shoving that book so far. . ." He starts his own painting as the time passes.

Sunset starts to arrive as Sai finishes. "Alright, let's see what you have." He smiled.

Naruto looked nervously. "Um. . . you first."

Sai turned his around, showing a beautiful portrait of the entire Leaf Village from an angle in the air that he couldn't possibly have up here. "I've seen the village from up on my ink birds so much it's engraved into my memory. Your turn."

Naruto started to sweat nervously as he handed his over to Sai, who took it and started grunting at it. A minute passes as Naruto awaits judgment.

Sai brings Naruto over. "What is this? A sort of beast? It could show how those believe you are a beast, yourself, having the kyubi inside or-"

"Uhhh . . ."

"Hm?"

Naruto pointed to spots on it. "That's a tree. THAT'S a person up there on the branch. and-" Sai looks again. . . . .

"Your art is as dickless as you are." He says smiling.

Naruto face vaults into the rock.

"I'm sorry. Is the namecalling not good here? The book said depressing situations can often be diffused with humor."

(With Shikamaru/Hinata)

"Sai doing a good jo-"

"No." Hinata answers before Shikamaru even finishes. He looks at her, finding her fiddling with something in her pocket.

"What you got there?"

EEP! She hides and blushes. "N-nothing!"

Shikamaru rubs the back of his neck. "Well, this leaves Sakura and you to cheer him up."

Hinata seemed down. "If. . If-f I leave. His home. ."

"Exactly." Shikamaru said, unraveling some ninja wire. "Be sure to tell him to send at least two hundred clones ahead of him when he comes home."

Hinata seemed confused. "Hm?"

He smiled. "I'm booby trapping this place to the point it's a ninja war battleground. Don't worry, I'll cover here." He smiled. She started to fidget again.

"But. But. . . I mean if Sakura is there, he'll be fine. . . He likes her I mean. ."

"Hinata."

She looked at Shikamaru blankly. He stared dead panned at her. "Go!"

"EEP!" She leaps off. "T-thank you!"

_**SAKURA**_

"Or how about a date with me? Would that cheer you up?" The pink haired girl said. Getting absolutely no response from the blonde. "I could promise not to hit you anymore." She then made a chuckle. "Sorry, I can't make that promise."

Naruto looks away. "Broken promises seem to be the only thing between us."

She immediately looks down. Okay, bad choice of words. "Naruto, talk to me." She sits down onto her knees with him sitting back. "We're best friends here. You can talk to me."

It's now late evening. The sun is gone, and the festival lights have the entire sky lit to where no stars can be seen. Nevertheless, he stares blankly at the moon.

"Naruto, what do you want me to say?" She asks softly.

"You don't have to say anything."

She pauses for a bit. "Yeah. I kinda do." She rubs his back with one hand. After about a minute she comes out with it. "I've been the biggest bitch to you Naruto, and I'm sorry."

He snaps from his gaze a bit and looks at her confused. "What do you mean?"

She slumped, amazed he's never thought that way. She starts holding up fingers. "Hmm, let's see:

I antagonized you through the academy.

I constantly relied on your strength and never once thanked you for it.

I never thanked you for the Gaara thing.  
I constantly berate you and hit you for sometimes no reason at all-"

Naruto frowns. "Don't be like tha-" He's cut off by a super strong smack upside the head.

"Shut up, idiot. I'm not finished." She paused. "SEE!" she hangs hopelessly for a moment. "The point is. . . I'm the direct example of these people. I turned around, and now, we're like siblings." She smiles at him. "Don't let the things these people do get to you."

He takes that in for a moment. They seem to sit there for a long time, not saying anything.

He finally mutters. "I have a question."

She blinks, confused.

"Is there anything else you have to say to me today?" She only tilts her head without an answer. "You're the closest person I have here, and I thank you for that. . . but. ." He looks at her. "It actually depresses me more. I'm sorry."

She smiles back sadly. "You want me to stay?"

"I'll be fine. Like I told you all." He replies. They sit in silence before she relents, getting up slowly and walking away. She looks back at him as he stares at the sky.

She finally just leaves as she meets up with everyone else.

"That didn't work. . ." She said.

"There's gotta be something we can do." Choji said, down.

"Yeah, for that matter, where's Shikamaru?" Kiba says looking around.

"I don't know!" Ino almost screamed. "He's the best at this stuff."

Lee powered through. "Perhaps a friendly sparring match will-" He gets hauled back by Tenten.

"YOU are not allowed to make ideas anymore." she comments harshly.

"Is there anyone else who could talk to him?" Shino looks to Sakura.

"Only Lady Tsunade and Kakashi sensei, but she's probably drunker than pure alcohol by now."

"And Kakashi?" Neji wondered.

Sakura fake laughed. "If I knew how to find his porno reading ass, I woulda' drug him here already! CHA!"

They went back and forth for several hours, wondering what to do as the lights of the city died down, showing stars above and a bright moon.

"NO!" Sakura, Ino, and Tenten all yelled simultaneously.

Sai sat, holding a make out paradise book. "Well, his teacher WAS Lord Jiraiya. Maybe re-enacting some scenes from his work would help. This one scene even has a flat chested pink haired girl, trampy blonde, and an angry brunette."

The all look at Sai. . . then back to the girls. . . then back to Sai. Kiba walks over and pats Sai's shoulder. "It was nice knowing you."

Sai then pressed with the idea. "I'm just saying if they're worried about him being able to satisfy all three, he can just make shadow cl-"

"NO MORE!" Choji, Kiba, and Shino all covered his mouth while Lee stood still with a slight nosebleed from the earlier comment of the three girls.

Just as the girls were getting ready to completely erase Sai's existence. . . well except for Ino who might want to reenact some scenes with Sai. . . They heard someone walk through the clearing. She just walked through, nodded a hello to everyone as she went out to Naruto.

Naruto stared up as he heard the steps coming closer. He expected someone like Konohamaru or Jiraiya when a soft voice broke his thoughts.

"Shikamaru says to send at least 200 clones ahead of you going home tonight."

Naruto looked over confused. "Hinata?"

_**HINATA**_

She sat next to him, laying down beside him, staring straight up. She was nervous of course, but as long as she didn't look at him, she figured she could stay conscious. Naruto, however, had his eyes glued on her for a while before looking up as well.

He waited for her to say something, but it never came. She laid there, calming her breathing and fiddling around while he just stared up at the moon. He finally sighed as she made a small jolt, expecting him to say something, but he didn't.

Back in the trees, the large group simply watches the two. They wonder what's going on until. . .

"What are you guys doing?" A bored voice scares them all. Shikamaru stares at them all.

"Where have you been?" Ino asked.

"Busy making my best work yet." He smirked. "Now, come on. We've all done our part."

They look confused as Kiba and Shino both seem to understand what Shikamaru is thinking. They just smirk and leave. Everyone else follows as well, until Neji stares at Shikamaru. Neji points at the couple on the Kage head with an eye brow raised.

"You're surprised?" Shikamaru chuckled.

Back with the two, they look up still as they're finally left alone. Naruto finds himself smiling slightly, but begins to falter as his thoughts go over the village. However, a small thud catches his attention. He looks over, finding Hinata now turned over with her back to him, and a box laying between them. About the size of a tissue box. He seems confused for a moment until he hears mumbling.

"Wh. . . what's this?"

She doesn't turn back, but she speaks louder.

"Happy Birthday."

And he was frozen. Just staring at her back then to the box between them. "Wha-. . b-. . why. .um." He swallowed the lump in his throat, looking at the box. "You're serious?"

She shuddered a bit, but turned back over, hiding her face and nodding.

He looks at the box, opening it slightly. Everything was wrapped up neatly. Before even getting the lid off, he shuts it and tries to push it back. "You don't ha-"

He hand flies out, grabbing the wrist for his hand holding the box, pushing it back to him. After this, she pulls her jacket hood up and hides slightly in her jacket.

He stares at her for a minute before he finally takes the lid off. He starts to unwrap the inside until he finds his first birthday present. "It. . . looks like the First's necklace?" He unzips his jacket to compare the one he has to the necklace in the box. "It's colored differently?" The green stone of the First's necklace is replaced with a bright yellow one, and the two silver loops to the sides of the stone are a deep crimson instead. He looks at Hinata, who's still hidden.

"I-I. R-real-ly lik-ke t-the way the o-one you have loo. . Looks, s-so I th-ought the dif. . Different c-colors would-d match bet-better."

She stayed still for a solid five minutes until she looked up. It was her turn to be shocked as he put his new present on with a giant Naruto smile with some tears coming down. As soon as it's on, he grabs and hugs her as she 'EEP's. They lay there for who knows how long before they roll apart and continue staring at the moon.

Hinata realizes something and looks down, finding their hands together. She jolts, looking at Naruto, who doesn't even notice the physical contact, but has the happiest look in his eyes she'd ever seen.

She relaxes, scoots over just a bit as they spend the rest of the night just in each other's presence.

_**THE END!**_

_**Author's note: Obviously takes place before Pain invasion. Colors for the necklace were the red from the Sage cloak and yellow from Kyubi mode. Just a story to use as an excuse to show off how I think Naruto's relationship with each of them is.**_


End file.
